Your Phone Can Replace A Roku Remote, With Only One Drawback

Roku streaming devices and smart TVs offer an immense library of entertainment platforms and casting capabilities, making them a cable cutter's dream come true. Every Roku product comes with a Roku remote, which can typically be programmed to control TV power and volume. And everything you can do with an actual Roku remote can also be done via the Roku mobile app. The app isn't paywalled, either. To use it, you just need to create a free Roku account and make sure your phone or tablet is paired to the same Wi-Fi as your Roku streamer or TV.

Powered by Roku OS, the screens and menus of the Roku app should look pretty similar to your Roku hardware's user interface. The Roku app also brings a handful of extra features to the table, one of which is private listening. When a wired or wireless pair of headphones (or a Bluetooth speaker) is connected to your host device, you'll be able to isolate Roku audio to your audio product. This should also result in your TV speakers behaving like they're muted. I personally use Roku private listening every single night, and most of the time it works without a hitch. But now and then, some users encounter a lip-sync issue when using Bluetooth headphones or earbuds.

This lip-sync error occurs when an on-screen individual's speech doesn't occur in lockstep with the on-screen visuals, which can make dialog confusing. A tiny bit of a lip-sync problem may go unnoticed, but a larger amount will definitely be distracting. Some users report an audio delay, sometimes severe enough that the sound lags up to half a second behind the video. Fortunately, Roku was aware enough of the issue to build a lip-sync-correcting function right into the Roku app.

If your movie or show is plagued by out-of-sync audio, do the following: Open the Roku app, then tap Remote, followed by the Headphone icon. Next, tap the Gear icon, then select Adjust audio delay, then Get started. Go through the on-screen adjustment prompts, and the app should start rebalancing your audio and visuals. If playback is still affected by lip sync troubles, tap Advanced adjustment on the Adjust audio delay screen to pull up a slider bar that offers finer manual controls for sync correction.

Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are wonderful things, but the Roku app's private listening uses the same wire-free internet connection as your phone, laptop, smart home devices, and any other Wi-Fi gadgets. If you're streaming a 4K HDR movie on a smart TV that's on the same network band as your Roku gear, that high-bitrate stream can prevent wireless bandwidth from getting where it needs to go efficiently. The end result could very well be out-of-sync audio, and you may also encounter lip sync woes if you're not using the most up-to-date version of the Roku app.

Beyond Roku's integrated sync correction tool, another quick fix for off-track audio is a full power-down of all involved tech. Unplug your Roku streaming device or smart TV, and power down your device that hosts the Roku app. Give your hardware 10-15 seconds of downtime, then plug it back in, turn it back on, let everything boot up, then fire up a movie or show. Last but not least, turn on private listening to see if your reset solved the problem.